1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the construction of a new contoured adapter ring and to its cooperative relation with an exposed end of a rotary tool-receiving arbor when such adapter ring is connected to such arbor end following removal of the bearing support for said arbor end. Such cooperative adapter-arbor assembly facilitates quick, easy and damage-free mounting of tooling on the arbor, particularly when arbor-mounted tooling as used involves very close diametral clearances between the arbor and tooling mounted thereon. Although the improved cooperative adapter-arbor assembly may be used for telescopically installing any kind of tooling on a rotary arbor, the new construction and cooperative arrangement is especially advantageous for use in changing the spacing setup of rotary knives on the rotary arbors of usual strip slitting machines. After the rotary tooling or knives are telescopically mounted on an arbor the adapter ring is removed, the arbor bearing support is replaced, and the tooling is locked on the arbor with a nut threaded onto a threaded arbor stub shaft.
Rotary knives for slitters usually are narrow gauge disc knives and are spaced along the slitter arbors with a predetermined spacing between each pair of knives. The spacing is determined by the width of the narrow strands desired to be slit from a wider, usually steel, strip that is pulled through the rotary slitter stand from an uncoiler to a coiling reel for the multiple strands.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Strip slitting lines for slitting narrow multiple strands from a wider strip, usually strip steel, must be shut down frequently in order to change the setup of spacing between rotary knife pairs on the slitter arbors.
The ends of the two arbors at one end of a slitter are exposed, in changing a knife spacing setup, to axially remove the rotary disc knives and spacers and to then reassemble the disc knives and different length spacers on the arbors. Such a changeover is a difficult and time-consuming operation with prior art slitters because of difficulties presented in telescoping onto an arbor, narrow gauge rotary disc knives which have close diametral clearance with the slitter arbors.
These difficulties involved in telescoping the openings through narrow gauge disc knives over the ends of arbors arise because of the tendency of the discs to cock or tilt out of exact 90.degree. relation with respect to the arbor axis when pressing the discs on an arbor. Any disc knife even slightly tilted when press telescoping the same onto an arbor can become damaged or may damage the end of the arbor to a degree that arbor regrinding or disc knife replacement may be required.
Such arbor regrinding or disc knife replacement, because of the described damage, becomes necessary since such damage may prevent exact desired knife spacing of knife pairs and the rigid mounting of any disc knife from being maintained. Unless exact spacing and rigid knife mounting is maintained, uniform strand widths will not result from the slitting operation.
Accordingly, as stated, prior art knife spacing changeovers are not only time-consuming but also are expensive, involving tedius, slow and careful positioning of the disc knives and maintaining such position to prevent tilting when being pressed onto an arbor. The result is that time-consuming knife spacing changeovers unduly delay slitting line operations, which adds to slitting costs by loss of production.
Some attempts have been made as set forth in Nishiyori et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,648 to eliminate long-time shutdowns of slitting lines by providing equipment having a plurality of complete slitter stands each of which is movably mounted on a track system so that the slitter stands may be interchanged, with one complete stand in the slitting line at any one time and the other at an adjacent station for knife setup changeover.
In this manner, the slitting line is not out of operation for a long period of time to accomplish a changeover in the line of knife spacing setup. However, such an arrangement involves the high capital expenditure of at least two rather than one slitter stand, and of the track system, etc. The expensive and time-consuming changeover difficulties still occur with the slitter stand which is out of service when changeover setups thereon are made. Accordingly, this proposal does not satisfy or solve the problem that has existed of eliminating the time-consuming costs of knife spacing changeovers in slitting lines.
Slitter arbors of some prior art slitters have had those arbor ends, which are exposed for disc knife spacing setup changeovers, machined to special contours intended to facilitate telescoping disc knives and spacers onto the arbor ends without damaging the close clearance engaged surfaces. However, in such prior art constructions where the arbor and contour becomes worn or changed from frequent tooling changeovers or where accidental tilting of the disc knives during changeovers damages the arbor or knife, it may be necessary to completely dismantle the arbor from the slitter and replace such arbor with a new arbor or to machine the arbor, to eliminate the damaged surface, to a smaller sized arbor with a new end contour.
These disc knife and arbor maintenance or replacement and time-consuming slitter knife spacing changeover problems have been very costly in the operation of slitting lines. A need has existed for many, many years in the field of slitter operation and arbor or shaft tooling changeover of the general type described, for some means which will eliminate such time-consuming and costly problems. That is, there has been a long existing need, in the art of rotary shaft or arbor tooling changeovers, for a construction and arrangement which facilitates rapid tooling changeovers and which minimizes damage to the arbor and tooling heretofore encountered in the prior art.